SealLDTheoCoxStandsByHisHOG

Lighting Designer Theo Cox has enjoyed a rich and varied career in entertainment lighting, working in numerous disciplines, and his one constant has been High End Systems HOG control platform.

Cox landed his gig with Seal when the LD was asked to propose a design for the singer’s 2012/2013 tour, and has been his lighting, video and creative director since then. Cox adds, “I have done a variety of tours with Seal, sometimes with arena touring production involving screens and automation, sometimes smaller scale and local production. The one mainstay has been for me to operate all the lighting and the media servers from a HOG desk. I like to have control of all the visual elements, and for this kind of show domain it is possible, even usual. Being able to continuously improve the show until it is near ’perfect’ I find thoroughly satisfying, and the creative control I get by using a HOG4 enables this.

Cox became involved with lighting drama at school in his teens, next attending university in Cardiff, Wales to study Mechanical Engineering. He says, “Naturally I gravitated to the Ents department and spent a lot of my time being on the crew and lighting bands. I got to know lighting guys who were touring on the uni circuit, including Ben Sullivan from The Spot Co, who I would then call to hire systems of Intellabeams for university events. I was invited to the legendary 1994 Spot Co Christmas party, then took a punt and moved to London to work freelance for them.

“In the same building as The Spot Co at that time were another young company called Flying Pig Systems. There were often Hogs scattered around the building, so I took Hog 1’s and later Hog 2’s into the demo room in my spare time to get to grips with them and took them out on jobs. Since then, of course, it has been a natural progression onto HOG3 and HOG4.”

The LD says he employs the flagship HOG4 whenever possible. “I prefer the full sized HOG 4 mainly because of the physical screen buttons, large tiltable screens - and very importantly of course the comfy armrest!

Cox has enjoyed a wide variety of production environments throughout his lighting design career, usually with a music angle. “Some periods have seen me busy with rock ’n ’roll touring acts (Kasabian, Seal) or big name artists at corporate events (Rolling Stones, Duran Duran). Other periods have seen me as Lighting Designer & Director of televised awards shows (BBC Teen Awards, Digital Music Awards) and other times have seen me designing son-et-lumière spectaculars or other unique outdoor shows (Qatar National Day, The Eye Of Kuwait).”

“Two particularly useful features in the realm of touring are the HOG’s fixture replicate and change-type. With careful attention to which existing fixtures in a show one applies these functions to, it is possible to cope quite painlessly with a complete change of rig for festivals or one-offs.

“I use timecode a lot, which I find extremely easy on this desk. Combining this with the triggering of other cues or cuelists via Comment Macros makes for an extremely powerful combination. Also, I find customisable wheel sets are invaluable when working with shuttering fixtures or media servers.

In closing, Cox says, “Despite trying many other consoles over the years, I have never had any doubt that the HOGs and I are a good fit. As most LD’s realise, it is mainly about what you know and are comfortable with. But of course, you must also be open and aware of the available alternatives, and not be afraid to try them. Despite having followed this approach over the years, I have always felt that I work best with the HOGs. My creative inclinations translate well through the desk, and rather than being just a block of technology, it is also a tactile and caress-able beast!”